1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for storing and transporting tube scaffolding and, more specifically to a device for storing and transporting tube scaffolding which includes a U-shaped cradle member and an attachable closure member.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the building and construction industry, there exists a need to store and transport large quantities of elongated building material such as tube scaffolding. Due to the scale of some building and construction operations, it is desirable to make this as efficient and economical as possible, and even seemingly minor differences in the equipment used to do this can, in fact, be quite
significant. This is illustrated by the fact that several devices for storing such materials have been disclosed in previous patents.
Previous U-shaped cradle devices for storing and transporting large numbers of pipes or other elongated materials such as loads of lumber, raw logs, or bundles of wires or tubing having described in the patent literature. None however use a rigid closure or are drawn to specifically handle bundles of standard sized diameter tube scaffolding.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,923, issued Apr. 5, 1983 to Isao Takei, shows a device which is placed at opposite ends of a number of elongated pipes to bind them for storage and transportation purposes. The device has top and bottom pipe holding members with concave recesses formed therein which are sandwiched around the pipes so that they are held in spaced relationship to each other to avoid damage during transportation. The above described device is adapted to store and transport pipes with protective coatings which are susceptible to damage during transport.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,793,059 (Chambers) and U.S. Pat. No. 1,993,216 (Marshall) show devices for transporting large quantities of cylindrical pipe in which the pipes are stacked within a U-shaped cradle and secured therein by a flexible closure strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,245,607, issued Nov. 6, 1917 to Ralph S. Maxwell, shows a lumber binding device with a U-shaped cradle portion and a rigid closure member that may be moved vertically within the cradle by a chain and pulley assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,504,404, issued Apr. 7, 1990 to Knut Yngve Rehnstrom and Per Ablin Strombeck, shows a device with a U-shaped cradle member with an adjustable and releasable vertical member and a chain closure member for handling stacks of cut lumber.
Soviet document number 1,689,153 and French document number 2,420,446 show devices for transporting large elongated materials such as logs within wheeled U-shaped cradle members.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,985 (Moritz) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,319 (Hawash et al.) show devices with U-shaped cradle members and attachable closure members which are adapted to hold electrical cable, and small hoses and tubing.
Despite previous efforts, the need still exists for an inexpensive, simple device for storing and transporting tubular scaffolding, especially scaffolding having the approximate diameter of 1.9 inches.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed. Thus a device for storing and transporting tube scaffolding solving the aforementioned problems is desired.